Dark Destiny (Dark Sentinel #1) - Lexxie Couper Page 0,79

fingers dug into her chin, forcing her jaw open. Wider. Wider. Her lips parted, the putrid air flowing onto her tongue. She gagged, vomit surging up her throat. Choking her.

The room swam. Turned grey. Black splotches blossomed behind her eyes. But still she saw Pestilence, eyes wild, leaning towards her, lips stretched into a maniacal grin, his other hand reaching for her mouth.

“The lifeguard’s brother will not be able to locate her if she is dead, sire.”

Raz’s statement seemed to be whispered from far away. She stared at Pestilence through the thick, grey haze. This was it. She was going to die.

The grip on her chin jerked away and she slumped, Raz’s claws in her arm and torso the only thing keeping her on her feet.

“I am the First!” she heard Pestilence snarl. “The First.”

Gasping for breath, blood and snot trickling from her nose, she lifted her head. “Why are you doing this? What do you think you’ll achieve? I’m nobody.”

Pestilence stared at her. “You are the favored source of blood for the vampire, Steven Watkins, are you not?” He curled his lip. “Well, you were. I’m not sure he will want you now you are a pathetic half-caste. No longer human, yet not demon either.”

Her throat squeezed tight. She stared at Pestilence, unable to comprehend the words she heard. A half-caste monster? Ven? No longer human…

Tell me, dear, Pestilence’s earlier question floated through her foggy mind. Are you hungry?

Bitter saliva flooded her mouth, coated her tongue. She was hungry. Starving. An insistent, powerful hunger gnawed at her stomach, almost devoured by the nausea consuming her. A hunger for blood. Human blood.

Repulsion and terror radiated through her. “What’s going on? What’s Raz done to me? What’s Ven got to do with all this?”

Pestilence smirked. Raz sniggered behind her.

Her stomach clenched. Oh, Lord. What were they wanting to do to Ven?

Fear filled her with strength. She lashed out, kicking at Pestilence, bucking in Raz’s cruel hold. The vampire laughed and yanked her harder to his body, driving his claws so deep into her flesh their pointed tips scraped her bones.

“I needed to have you here, my dear.” Pestilence threaded his fingers before his chest, giving her a patronizing smile. “You are the bait to reel in the lifeguard’s brother. The only way you could travel to the Realm was to no longer be human.” His smile grew wider. “Raziel sank his teeth into your neck and partially drained you, but he did not allow you to feed in return. You are in mid-coitus, as such. Not completely fucked, but very close to it.” He smirked again, flicking his gaze over her, and her heartbeat tripled, smashed against her aching breastbone in a frantic, painful rhythm. “But as I am sure you can see, you are just as pathetic as you always were. A victim, it seems, of your lust and addiction.”

His smug words slipped into her ear like an oily snake.

Lust.

Addiction.

She bit back a sob, guilt and scalding contempt crashing over her. Lord, she’d brought this on herself. Her craving for the burn of the feed, for the sexual high it created, had led her to seek out another vampire.

And Raziel had, in turn, delivered her to Pestilence.

“Is that dawning realization I see on your face?” Pestilence asked. “I must admit, it is hard to see your face, what with the blood and snot and matted hair. Oh, and look, your skin is beginning to welter. Pus.” He flashed a smile of such perverse delight that her stomach clamped tight. “We have pus, Raziel. Isn’t that glorious? Your looks are improving with every moment in my company, my dear.” He laughed, and she whimpered.

Oh, Lord. Ven. What had she done?

“Now that I have you,” Pestilence continued, his euphoric smile evaporating, “you will give me the vampire. And once I have the vampire I will have the lifeguard.” He closed the distance between them, hooking his nail under her chin to force her face up to his. “And with the lifeguard’s only weakness in my power, with his brother’s fate in my hands, the Cure shall surrender to me and the Apocalypse shall begin.” He grinned, yellow teeth glistening in the flickering candlelight. “Sounds like fun, does it not?”

Ven appeared in the kitchen of Amy’s apartment, every nerve and muscle on edge. Something was wrong.

How he’d got to Amy’s home, he didn’t know. He had a suspicion what he’d just done—leave the Realm without Death’s aid—was not something he should’ve been able